REINDUSTRIALIZATION OF AMERICA

If the United States is to sustain a fairly high level of economic growth, seven functional needs must be met: transportation, communication, power, innovation, human resources, financialbegal institutions, and capital goods. Attention to these elements amounted for the successful development of the infrastructure and the capital goods sector during America's first industrialization, roughly from the 1820s to the 1920s, providing the foundation for a strong economy able to mass-produce consumer goods and services. In the decades following World War II, however, roughly from 1950 to the late 1970s, insufficient resources were dedicated to maintaining and adapting these seven elements, and in varying degrees all but one deteriorated. The result was economic underdevelopment. For the United States to regain i t s economic vitality, steps must now be taken to serve these basic needs of economic development more effectively.